Planet overview

The Rebel Alliance
relocated to Hoth after their victory in the Battle of Yavin.
However an Imperial probe droid, before self destructing,
discovered the base on Hoth. The Rebels, acting on this discovery,
immediately began preparations to leave. However Darth Vader's Death Squadron, Blizzard Force, arrived in time to intercept
them, forcing the Rebels into combat in order
to cover their escape. Although the Empire won the Battle of Hoth
by destroying the Rebel base and capturing many Rebel personnel and
equipment, the Rebels didn't attempt a full-scale defense, but
rather worked to stall the Empire's forces long enough to stage an
effective evacuation, and to allow the deletion of compromising
information as to the whereabouts of the Rebel Fleet. Since the
Rebels did successfully evacuate vital leadership and some
personnel and equipment, the Empire failed to do more than stall
the Rebels' plans, and the Rebel Fleet remained elusive.

Hoth is an example of the science-fictionalstereotype of a planet that
has only one climatic zone. However, some Expanded Universe sources show
that under-ice caves containing large lichen
fields exist on the planet, on which Tauntauns feed.The Rebel
alliance was forced from the planet by the 501st legion of the
Imperial Army.

There is a hypothesis commonly referred to as Snowball Earth which argues that the earth
went through a period several hundred million years ago, during
which it was completely covered with mile thick ice sheets, while
retaining an oxygen atmosphere.

Echo Base was not designed with the means to repel an Imperial
assault, but instead relied on its shield generator and its hidden
location on a desolate planet in an unoccupied system to protect it
from the Empire. Because of this most of its equipment and
machinery were able to be taken apart and evacuated at a moment's
notice, if the base was discovered.

When the Empire's probe droids found the base, the Rebels fought a
holding action to give the transports enough time to evacuate. They
used the base's planetary defense shield to prevent an Imperial
orbital bombardment, and then used small airspeeders modified for
the cold climate of Hoth, called Snowspeeders, and a small contingent of
soldiers, to slow the advance of the Empire's AT-AT walkers. This holding action allowed the Rebels
time to use Echo Base's Planet Defender Ion
Cannon to open holes in the Imperial blockade, allowing many
transports and their X-wing escorts to
escape.

Echo Base suffered a series of attacks by the shaggy and
carnivorous wampas soon after Commander
Skywalker's encounter with one of the creatures. This is not shown
in Empire Strikes Back, but was described in the
accompanying novelization.

Echo Base is also featured in the Star-Wars-based video game
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
In the game, the player's character, Jaden, is sent on a mission to
Echo Base in order to find out information about the Cult of Ragnos. The player ends up finding
the Base occupied by the Imperial
Remnant.

Dash Rendar lands his snowspeeder in
Echo Base soon after the Battle of Hoth to escape on his ship, the
Outrider, in the Shadows of the Empire video game. He
fights snowtroopers, probots, an AT-ST and wampas on the way to his
ship.

Hoth is the setting of a very rare single player mod for Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
called Hoth: Imperial Base V3.0. In it, Echo Base has been taken
over by Imperial remnants who are rebuilding the former rebel
hide-out in the image of the Empire. It features many call-backs to
The Empire Strikes
Back

In the novel Darksaber, Luke returns to
Hoth with his lover, Callista. They
find that Echo Base is now occupied by wampa-pelt hunters who have
found their prey too much to handle. Luke and Callista try to help
them but instead see the entire group killed.

In the
queue for Star
Tours, Echo Base is advertised as a tourist
attraction. Visitors can explore the ruins of the Rebellion
forces. It is there that visitors can ski the "most incredible
slopes in the galaxy" or "ride a tauntaun".